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Manhunt Continues in Upstate New York; Mitchell Says Prisoner Made Her Feel "Special"; News Conference by New York State Police; Actor LeVar Burton Talks about "Roots," Skybrary. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 11, 2015 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[14:33:58] BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Past the bottom of the hour. You're watching CNN.

More on our breaking news. Investigators are making this push through heavily wooded area in Upstate New York trying to find the escaped killers. These dogs have picked up on a possible scent, food wrappers, shoe prints as well. Outside the search area, the focus is on this woman here. This is Joyce Mitchell. She worked at the prison for the past seven years and a source from the investigation says she told investigators that one of the escaped prisoners made her feel, quote, unquote, "special."

CNN national correspondent, Deborah Feyerick, is with me with a little bit more on this angle.

And I guess, she is cooperating, they're holding back on any kind of charges potentially.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. Because more than anyone, she knows, at least key parts of what these two men were planning. As long as she keeps talking, keeps cooperating, it will be better for her in the long run.

BALDWIN: What do we know as far as these two, I know you're talking to your sources, they don't know the outdoors at all.

FEYERICK: Well, they don't. And that's critical as well. Because you think about how elaborate this plan was as they dug out of this prison, breaking through concrete and brick and seal, then all the sudden they get out, and the crucial part that they needed --

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: The getaway car.

[13:35:09] FEYERICK: The woman and the getaway car was nowhere to be found. It's unclear whether they knew if they were going north or south. It's dark and raining. They don't have a GPS, no situational awareness or what direction they're pointing in. It appears once the ride failed to show -- and Joyce Mitchell told investigators she simply had a change of heart, possibly because one of the killers she was driving away actually dismembered his last victim. That could have been a factor in her reasoning.

BALDWIN: Solid reason.

FEYERICK: So that's -- they're not trained in wilderness survival. We are told that they hate the outdoors. So the fact that they are there now, in these terrible conditions, if they wanted to go north to Canada, it gets much colder. And they're still wearing their green prison garb. It would have made more sense to go south, but again, no indication that they even know where they are. So right now, they are sheltering wherever they can.

BALDWIN: They are in their prison garb. I thought they could wear civilian clothes.

FEYERICK: You have the green clothing. You have the green pants. Which is another suggestion, maybe the prison facility should change the color of their inmates dress.

BALDWIN: OK.

FEYERICK: Hot orange would be better to see. But, you know, that said, helicopters, fixed wing planes have these infrared, sort of, heat-seeking devices they're using to get a read of the terrain. The problem is that it's difficult to see through the trees. It's only once they're out in the open they can pick up sort of the forms of the bodies, but those are absolutely being used right now.

BALDWIN: And the other nugget is the fact that one of them is on pain meds.

FEYERICK: The other is the pain meds in prison, very carefully dispensed, right, usually have to go to a dispensary each and every day, if David Sweat is not getting that medication, he could potentially be in a great deal of pain, that could be hampering their ability to run. The interesting thing, because there are, this is sort of a transportation area. You have a lot of freight trains in that area, the cars, we've all seen that. The cars stacked up one against the other. Technically if they got to a track, they could have jumped on one of those cars, and leaving, but again, it appears based on what authorities are doing now and the areas they're investigating, the raids you they have, they feel pretty good about. At least they do right now.

BALDWIN: OK. Deborah Feyerick, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

And now, joining me, Phil Lerman, former co-executive producer of "America's Most Wanted."

Welcome to the show, Phil.

PHIL LERMAN, FORMER CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: Hi. Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: You say, in reading your opinion piece, "in the slightly less than short term, these two will be caught because they're not exactly the brightest bulbs in the bunch." LERMAN: I think that's probably the case. These guys have got to be

pretty lucky to stay out this far. It's a testament to New York state law enforcement in general that usually when guys break out of prison, they're not prepared for life on the outside, and they don't have the money, they don't have the resources, they don't have a way to get through. They're not the kind of guys who will get out there in the woods gathering nuts and berries and hunkering down. They're going to make a mistake. The question is, is law enforcement going to be ready? Is the public going to be ready to catch that mistake? Let's hope we catch that mistake before somebody else gets hurt, which is obviously a real possibility.

BALDWIN: Right, moving back to the mistakes that could be made. But you know, reading a little bit of the background of Richard Matt, we know he has escaped from a correctional facility in the past. Granted, he got caught. What all of a couple of days later after he went straight to his brother's house. The point being, they have managed to evade police in the past.

LERMAN: They have. But let's remember, fugitives aren't the smartest people in the world. This is how they get to be fugitives in the first place. If we can keep a partnership going between law enforcement and the public and the media. The media can do their part by getting the pictures out there more often and getting the tattoos out there. Sweat has IFB on one of his hands. What does that tattoo mean? My 13-year-old song says it's from a gang, in for blood. Is that a good theory? I haven't heard another one, but I will tell you this, those are the quirks and details that as we get those out to the public, those are the kind of things that will catch these guys. We have one fugitive said when you asked the words from sweet home Alabama, somebody overheard him saying that and that's how he got caught.

BALDWIN: Something as little as that?

LERMAN: Something as little as that. Little quirks, tattoos, scars, what scars they have. We've only seen one picture. There are more pictures out there, but if these guys are in the woods, that's a job for the cops and the dogs. If they're in urban area, going to 7- Eleven, trying to hide out in plain sight, that's the job for the public and the media. The more we get those quirks and tattoos and the pictures out there, we'll tell you this, went to every website of all the newspapers in New York State, and none of the -- "Albany Times Union," "Syracuse Post Standard," "Rochester Democrat" -- nobody has their pictures up. That's a shame, and that's a mistake. And the more the media and public and police can work together, the sooner we're going to chasm these guys and catch them before somebody gets caught. That's what we learned.

[14:40:21] BALDWIN: We have been plastering their faces all over CNN. You were talking about the IFB, too, on their hands. We've been showing pictures of their tattoos --

(CROSSTALK)

LERMAN: And those are the things that are going to catch them. BALDWIN: Yeah, those are the little things. To your point about

mistakes, we're hearing from sources, Phil, they have some kind of food wrappers in the woods, dogs picking up the scent within that three-mile area from Clinton. There's maybe a footprint or a location where it appears they had slept, so those are all little things, what do you think? What could the big mistake be?

LERMAN: We've seen hundreds of things like this. Think about it for yourself, if you were trying to hide from the police. You have to never run a red light, never run a stop sign. They're going to be seen in a 7-Eleven, get caught on camera, they will get caught. These are not the smartest, the sharpest knives in the drawer. They're going to slip up. Those are the slip ups we have to keep an eye out for.

BALDWIN: What about the fact -- human behavior, you know, you sort of revert back to what you know. Obviously, it's breaking the law in these two guy's cases, the fact that there has been no stolen cars, there have been no reports of taking hostages, thank goodness, in any of the areas no armed robbery calls. What does that tell you? That they're not too far?

LERMAN: Well, we talked about this earlier. We were saying that, you know, there have been no incidents like that, that be we know of. And it's that we know of part that has everybody the most concerned. If they have a hostage somewhere, if they've stolen a car we don't know about, those are the things the public can help with. We have to keep the word out there, if you've seen anything, broken window on a car that you didn't expect would be there. Article of clothing that doesn't, shouldn't be there, you've got to make that call. You have to call the cops, they need all the tips they can get. People think, I don't want to overwhelm the cops, and it's just the opposite. It's the smallest step that's always the one, the one you never think it's going to be, that's going to chasm these guys and that's the word we have to keep getting out.

BALDWIN: Great information. Phil Lerman, thank you so much, former producer of "America's Most Wanted."

Phil, thank you.

I am told there is state police news conference right now. Let's take a listen to that.

JENNIFER FLEISHMAN, SPOKESWOMAN, NEW YORK STATE POLICE DEPARTMENT: Everybody happy? OK.

At this time, we are remaining in the area until we have conducted a thorough search. We're looking underneath every rock, behind every tree, and inside every structure until we catch these two. We've deployed extra personnel to the area at this point since many have been on scene since the lead developed. We need to make sure our people are fresh and well-rested as we continue on with this lead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Resources seem more than anything else --

(CROSSTALK)

FLEISHMAN: I can't comment on how significant the lead is. Like we said, we thorough investigate every lead until we exhaust it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How big is the search area? How many people do you have out there in total?

FLEISHMAN: Right now, I can't speak to the number of personnel we have deployed to this specific area, but we have well over 500 personnel in the region locally here tracking leads today.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Some people have said that family members in Cadyville have heard gunshots, what's the official word on gunshots being fired?

FLEISHMAN: That is not related to this lead. That is not related to this area.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Were there gunshots?

FLEISHMAN: I can't comment on everything, but the shots that have been heard have not been related to this lead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you found anything today that led you to stay in this area? Are you just going off this tip that came in last night?

FLEISHMAN: Like I said, we have to investigate everything thoroughly. Every lead is credible unless proven otherwise.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did you find anything today?

FLEISHMAN: I can't talk about specifics on the lead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You're confident that these two will be brought back to justice?

FLEISHMAN: Yes. I believe we will catch these guys.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How big is the area? Can you give us any indication, any sense?

FLEISHMAN: You know, the situation is still fluid. And at this point, I can't tell you how large the area is that we've searched thus far.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How close are you to completing the perimeter?

FLEISHMAN: I can't put a time limit on it. Again, when everybody feels as though they've exhausted this lead, then we'll move on.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yesterday, it was said that there were more than 500 leads. I presume that figure's gone up more. How do you have the resources to thoroughly check out all of those leads?

FLEISHMAN: How do we have the resources? UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: That in and of itself must be overwhelming.

FLEISHMAN: There's been so many agencies cooperating with us and deploying extra personnel to assist us here. We have enough personnel to track each and every lead.

[14:45:08] UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How confident are you that these gentlemen are in this perimeter?

FLEISHMAN: Like I said, I can't -- I can't comment. I can't speculate on that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you tell us on that, it's hard to know what they have access to out there. Why is it difficult for you guys to operate and to say much?

FLEISHMAN: In the instance that these gentlemen are watching any of the news media that's occurring out here, we don't want to give them an idea of exactly every move we make.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What's the terrain like? Can you describe the obstacles that you face?

FLEISHMAN: Thickly wooded area.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And how about the dogs? Can you talk about that a little bit?

FLEISHMAN: I really can't get into the dogs.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Can you give us an idea of the strength of the resources you have out there and everything from dogs to helicopters or what's at your disposal right now?

FLEISHMAN: We have all of that. We have aircraft, we have K-9, we have tons of ground personnel. We're exhausting every single resource that we have in our disposal.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Last night, you did a reverse 911 call to the residents in the area to shelter in place, turn their lights on. Will you be continuing that sort of recommendation to the residents through today and tonight?

FLEISHMAN: I'm not prepared to speak about that right now.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Should residents be concerned about their safety? Should they take precautions?

FLEISHMAN: Absolutely. Everybody needs to remain vigilant until we can confirm whether or not these guys are here or whether they've left the area. We are strongly asking all of the public to remain vigilant, report anything suspicious. Anything with regard to vehicle larcenies, burglaries, trespass, we need to know about it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Staying indoors, locking doors.

FLEISHMAN: Locking doors, turning on porch lights, flood lights, absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A lot of vacation homes out here as well. Do you have different personnel that are checking those homes, those homes that may be empty or thought to be empty? How are you doing all that?

FLEISHMAN: We have deployed several people into the field to check seasonal residences and homes throughout the region. And anybody that's traveling to their seasonal residents, if they notice any sign of a break-in or anything suspicious or unusual, they need to contact either 911 or the state police immediately.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Have you put out a call to individuals who have seasonal homes up here who may not be there right now that they need to be checked, or are they not being checked?

FLEISHMAN: Seasonal homes are being checked. Seasonal homes are being checked. Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

FLEISHMAN: That's all, that's all we're going, that's all the questions I'm going to take.

BALDWIN: We're going to pull out of this, spokeswoman for New York State Police. And you know, not saying a whole heck of a lot. She obviously, in case, I don't know how in the world these two escaped killers would have access to news, but in the case that perhaps they do, you know, obviously they don't to want say too much. She did say as far as resources go, they're good to go, other jurisdictions helping them. Leaving no stone unturned. She was essentially saying people in the area -- and there are vacation homes and some people who do camp out in the wooded area where maybe they saw the food wrappers left behind and footprints in the woods. Remain vigilant, call 911.

Much more on this manhunt in Upstate New York after a quick commercial break.

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[14:53:00] BALDWIN: Get ready to sit down and celebrate the most awesome decade ever, the '70s. That is when this medium, television, was the go-to source for pop culture, news, really for just about everything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was the last decade where there was a campfire television. It was one in the living room.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I want to watch an all black television show for a change.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Where you going to find one?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Here's one, the Los Angeles Lakers against the Milwaukee Bucs.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Young people were interested in relevant things. And so television began to reflect that.

ANNOUNCER: This is CBS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, it was very simple. You had three channels and plus PBS.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Fred Silverman, who was running programming at CBS, said we're going to get rid of the shows that are the most highly rated and replace them with shows that they thought would be more appealing to the younger audience.

BOB NEWHART, ACTOR: It changed the face of television.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And part of that, television in the seventies was the mini series. The biggest mini series ever, aired in 1977, long before there was "12 Years a Slave, there was the young African kidnapped, chained, enslaved in "Roots." And I have with me now, from Los Angeles, the actor who brought that to you, LeVar Burton.

LeVar, it is a pleasure and honor, sir.

LEVAR BURTON, ACTOR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: How are you feeling?

BURTON: I am doing well.

BALDWIN: And I just want to the jump right into your role in "Roots." That explored, that explored the brutality of slavery in ways never seen on TV. And it's not like this was spread out over several weeks, this was eight consecutive nights, major, major ratings. Were you surprised as far as how well it was received?

BURTON: Yeah, yeah, I was surprised. Everyone was surprised. The reason that "Roots" was originally broadcast in eight consecutive nights of television is the executives at ABC, although they knew they had something that was really special and worthwhile, they were not sure how it would play in Peoria, as the saying goes. And so rather than risk a multi-week commitment, the prevailing wisdom was, let's air all consecutively, and if no one watches, then we'll cut our losses and move on with our lives.

[14:55:18] BALDWIN: You mention risk, and we were sort of thinking, bigger picture, roots, other shows, there was a lot of risk on TV in the '70s, like spicier language in shows that took on some of America's most controversial issues, like your show, that was really a first in the '70s. BURTON: The '70s was really the era in which television came of age.

It was, and continues to be, a central force and factor in our every day lives. And that was really cemented in the decade of the '70s. It really did become that go-to medium where we gathered, where we saw stories, and experienced life. And shared it really together in our living rooms. Most homes in that decade only had one television, and we tended to gather around it as a family.

BALDWIN: Speaking of stories, not only are you so well-known for the movie, but take a look, it's in a book. I grew up with you, LeVar Burton. I loved watching you and reading. You made me want to read. Reading Rainbow. Now you're taking it and going all digital on us with the new endeavor, it's called "Skybrary."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURTON: Your journey is about to begin. And your destination, well, take a look. Welcome to Skybrary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What is this? What is this Skybrary?

BURTON: So if you'll recall, the kick-starter campaign we waged last year was everywhere, and Skybrary is the first post-kick starter product. It is the number one educational app for the way translated for the web. It really is about access for me. 83 percent of American households have access to the web, whereas only about 30 percent of the kids in our demographic have access to tablet computers. So getting to the web was an important part of every child, everywhere for us at the company. So this is what folks donated all of that money for, for products like Skybrary. So it is our library of books and videos on the web at readingrainbow.com.

BALDWIN: Say again, Skybrary.

BURTON: Skybrary.

BALDWIN: I am tickled to be talking to you, is that really -- you're walking down the street, final question, you're walking down the street, what's the number one thing people say to you?

BURTON: Butterfly in the sky.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: LeVar Burton, thank you so much for coming on. I can't wait. And we're excited here about the premier of "The Seventies" tonight.

BURTON: On CNN.

BALDWIN: Thank you.

Coming up next, back to our breaking news. We're live in west Plattsburgh, New York, where officers are converging for the search of the two escaped killers after a dog picked up their scents. This, as we're learning an alleged accomplice said one of the escapees made her feel "special."

Back in 90 seconds.

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